Wish you were here
by DahliaRose83
Summary: He could leave Mystic Falls and all its drama behind. He could forget about Klaus and hybrids and even about his sister. But he would never forget this one girl. Jeremy/Anna
1. Chapter 1

Sorry for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. I`m german and this isn`t beta-read. Also I wrote this story originally in german and posted it on a german fanfiction board.

I know that there are quite a few stories about Anna coming back from the dead. Well, this is my attempt.

Wish you were here

Jeremy closed his door with a sigh. He threw his backpack into a corner and lied down on the bed. He`d just survived another seemingly endless day of school and mused how school had never seemed so boring back home in Mystic Falls. Or maybe it just seemed that way because of everything that had been going on aside from school, all the drama with the vampires, hybrids and Klaus. His life here in Denver was a stark contrast to that and really rather boring.

He found his thoughts drifting, like they always did when he thought of home. In moments like these he always had the feeling, that he was missing something. Like there was something important he had forgotten. But it was only a vague thought, that slipped away as quickly as it had come. His life in Mystic Falls seemed so far away now.

"Shouldn`t you be out, having fun?" A sudden voice startled him out of his thoughts. Jeremy sat up, his lips curling in a smile. He could leave Mystic Falls behind, could ignore all the problems his sister had with Klaus and Stefan. But he would never be able to stop thinking of that one girl. "Anna." he called her name, still smiling. She sat down beside him and he wished for the millionth time he`d still be able to touch her. But Bonnie` s spell had put an end to that.

"Why are you looked away alone in your room again?" "I`m not alone. You`re here with me." he pointed out. Anna smiled sadly. "You should go out, have fun, meet other people." she insisted. Jeremy frowned. "I was out the whole afternoon, yesterday." "You were running. Alone." she protested. "You`ve been here for more than two weeks and you haven`t gotten to know anyone. You don`t even try to become friends with anyone. You spend all of your time with me."

Jeremy sighed, absently combing through his hair. They`d had this conversation quite a few times over the past two weeks. "I spend time with you because I want to. Because I like being around you. Because I love you, Anna." he said sincerely. Again she smiled. "I love you too, but..." He jumped up and walked over to the window, not wanting to hear the end of the sentence. He knew well enough, what she was going to say. Anna kept talking nonetheless. "I`m dead, Jeremy. There is no future for us. You need to accept that and move on."

He didn`t answer. And Anna was silent as well. He almost thought she had left. She did that often lately. Disappearing on him, when he wasn`t listening to her reasoning. In the aftermath of Bonnie` s spell, that had banished the ghosts again, he hadn`t seen Anna for days. He had thought of her constantly, even called out for her a few times, but she didn`t show up and he had feared she was gone for good. A thought that scared him. More than he thought possible.

On his first evening here in Denver however she had appeared again. She had told him, she didn`t want to stand between him and Bonnie. She wanted to give him the chance to find a new love and move on. But she couldn`t forget him. Just like he could never forget her.

Sighing he turned back around to find Anna still sitting on his bed, watching him with sad eyes. „Your sister was right." she whispered. „You have your whole life ahead of you. I`m keeping you from living a normal life. I`m the only thing keeping you from living a normal life, now that Elena sent you away."

That last sentence felt strange to Jeremy. Now that Elena sent you away... He thought back to Bonnie` s parting words. Elena said exactly the same thing... He had the feeling that there was a deeper meaning behind those words. That he was missing something. But he just couldn`t grasp it, no matter how hard he tried.

"I should leave." Anna`s voice brought him out of his reverie and reminded him that he had been silent for a couple of minutes. "No! Don`t go. Please." "I shouldn`t have come in the first place. It would be best for you if I just left for good." she mused and he got angry. "No, damn it! It would not. Why does everybody think they know what`s best for me?!"

Just like Elena, who always tried to make his decisions and tell him what to do. Again he had this strange feeling, but Jeremy put it aside for the moment. He had to concentrate on Anna now.

"I don`t want a normal life, Anna. Not if it means living without you." He could see how much his words meant to her. He had promised to never leave her alone. And he would keep that promise." But Anna still tried to be the voice of reason. "I`m dead, Jeremy." she reminded him again. "So was I. At least for a little while. But Bonnie brought me back."

At first Anna didn`t seem to understand, but then her eyes widened, when she finally got what he was hinting at. "That`s impossible!" she gasped. "It`s not, Anna. Bonnie wouldn`t help me, of course. But I could find another witch..." She didn`t let him finish. "You can`t. No witch would do that. There`s consequences... They aren`t allowed..." the vampire stammered.

"Bonnie did it. And nothing bad has happened." Jeremy said matter of factly. But Anna only shook her head, seemingly scared by the mere idea. "No witch would do it." she repeated. "To even ask them could be dangerous for you. I don`t want anything to happen to you." "Anna..." Jeremy started, but she wouldn`t listen. "Goodbye Jeremy."

And before he could utter another word she was gone. Jeremy sat down on the bed again, punching his pillow in frustration. Why couldn`t she understand that he`d take every risk if there was even the smallest chance of bringing her back? That he`d do anything to be with her again.

A few month ago he thought he`d gotten over her. That he`d really fallen for Bonnie. But he`d been lying to himself. Sure, he liked Bonnie, but he`d never really loved her. Not like he loved Anna. She was the one he`d wanted to spend his whole life with. He had been so happy to see her again, even if she was a ghost. Seeing her made him realize how much he really missed her. How much he still loved her. And of course it made him want her back for good.

He`d been thinking about it more and more often in the past few weeks. Bonnie had brought him back from the dead. There had to be a way to bring Anna back as well. But he would need a witch for that and Jeremy had no idea how to find one. The only witch he knew was Bonnie and she sure as hell wouldn`t help him.

He had even thought about asking Damon for help. But the vampire would want to know why he needed a witch. And even if Jeremy would somehow manage to find a plausible excuse and Damon would be dumb enough to buy it - which he highly doubted - the Salvatore would still tell Elena of his plans. And then his sister would once again interfere and try to control his life.

No, he had to find another way. He had to find a witch on his own. But how? He could hardly put an ad in the newspaper. Looking for a witch for the resurrection of my dead vampire girlfriend. If you`re interested contact me at... Jeremy shook his head, a smile playing about his lips. He really got strange ideas sometimes.

When he looked at his watch however the smile was gone. In a few minutes he had to go downstairs for dinner. He had to forget his problems for a while and play the happy kid, so no-one would get worried and call Elena.

With a heavy sigh he got up and made his way towards the kitchen. He would find a way. He had to.

####

Jeremy stared at the screen of his computer, absently rubbing his throbbing head. For more than two hours he had been searching the internet for witches in the vicinity of Denver. So far he`d found nothing but a few creepy legends, some new-age freaks and a shop for herbs and teas. It was maddening. "God damn it! There have to be witches out there." he murmured, closing yet another useless homepage.

"So you`re really serious about this?" Jeremy jumped, startled by the sudden voice behind him. He hadn`t heard anybody enter, which could only mean one thing. Trying to slow his rapid heartbeat he cautiously turned around, staring in awe at the woman standing in his room. He couldn`t believe who he was seeing.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremy took a quick peak at the map, before leaving the highway. Getting away had been almost too easy. Especially considering the fact that he`d had only two days to plan everything. The family he was staying with had believed his tale of the camping trip with friends all too eagerly and would tell Elena the same thing, if she called. Should Elena or someone else try to reach him on his mobile he just wouldn`t pick up. He could always say he`d forgotten to turn it on. Since that was covered there was only one more thing to to before he reached his destination.

He took another quick peek at the map before pulling over and stopping the car. "Anna, we need to talk." He waited, but nothing happened. She just didn`t appear. It had been the same for two days now. Since their last talk she seemed to have vanished. "Anna, please. It`s important." he tried again. But again there was no answer. He only had one option left. "I had a talk with your mother."

He held his breath, waiting for a reaction. Seconds ticked by, maybe even minutes, until he finally heard the voice he`d been missing the last days. "You talked to my mum?" Anna appeared in the seat next to him. She looked nervous. "Yes, I did." Anna hesitated. "What... what did she say? And where are you going?" Jeremy smiled, thinking back to his meeting with pearl:

_"You`re Anna`s mum." Pearl nodded. "I am. And I`ve asked you something. Are you really serious about this?" Jeremy nodded. "I am. I would do anything to get Anna back." he replied honestly. Pearl looked at him critically. "And then? If your crazy plan works out and you really manage to get her back, what happens then? My daughter has suffered so much. She`s been alone for so long." Jeremy met her eyes calmly. "I will never leave her alone. I promised her that and I intend to keep that promise. I can`t guarantee you that she`ll never get hurt again. I can`t even guarantee that I won`t hurt her. But I`ll do anything I can to protect her."_

_For a long while Pearl just looked at him. Her scrutiny made Jeremy nervous, but still he didn`t look away. Finally she nodded. "You need to go to Holyoak. There`s a bar called the green man. Ask for Julia. Tell her Pearl sent you. When she refuses to help you - and she will refuse, believe me - remind her of her grandmother´s debt."_

_Jeremy nodded, quickly scribbling down the names, before looking back at Pearl. "Thank you for helping me. I know you don`t have a very high opinion of the Gilberts." The dead vampire stared at him once more. "Anna was right. You`re different than Jonathan. Even if it took me some time to see that." she finally admittet. "Take care of my daughter. I`ll be watching you. And if you hurt her I`ll find a way to make your life hell." she warned. _

_Jeremy didn`t doubt the truth of her words for a second. "I`ll take care of her." he vowed. "Tell Anna I love her. And I`m proud of her." Jeremy nodded again. "I will." Finally Pearl allowed a smile to grace her lips. She gave him a nod and vanished._

"My mother really said that?" Anna whispered with tears in her eyes. Jeremy wished he could just take her into his arms. "That were her exact words. And because of that I`m .. no WE are going to Holyoak now to find Julia. Okay?" Anna nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Okay." Jeremy smiled as well and started the engine. They didn`t talk for the rest of the drive, but Anna stayed next to him.

###

About 20 minutes later they reached their destination and Jeremy parked in front of an old house, that had definetly seen better days. There were cracks in the walls and one of the windows was broken. A sign above the door said "the green man".

Jeremy took a deep breath before getting out of the car. Anna followed him into the building, which looked a little better on the inside. It was dimly lit, but somewhat clean, nicely furnished and almost completely empty, save for a dark skinned woman with long blond locks who stood behind the bar, with her back to the door. Without turning around she barked: "We`re closed, idiot!"

Not about to be swayed by a few harsh words Jeremy walked closer. "I`m looking for Julia." Slowly she turned around. Her eyes, that looked almost black in the dim light, bore into Jeremy. "Who are you?" "My name is Jeremy Gilbert." The woman narrowed her eyes at him. "I don`t know you. What do you want?" she demanded. "You are Julia?" She didn`t answer but Jeremy took the look she gave him as a yes.

"I need your help." When she just continued to stare at him, he said: "Pearl sent me." The witch sighed and muttered a curse. "Okay then, Jeremy Gilbert. What do you need my help for?" she finally asked in an annoyed tone. "My girlfriend Anna, Pearl´s daughter... she was murdered." There really was no other way to describe it. "And you want to contact her ghost." Julia guessed.

Jeremy glanced at Anna, who was silently standing next to him. "No, that`s not what I need you for." Julia looked at him quizzically, not really understanding what he was getting at. "I want you to bring Anna back to life." the young Gilbert explained. "Impossible!" "I know that it is possible." She looked at him like he was insane. "So maybe it is possible. But it`s also forbidden. And dangerous. It´s against nature. Sorry, but I can`t help you." She turned her back on him, obviously expecting him to leave.

But Jeremy wasn`t about to give up so easyly. "I won`t leave until you help me." He promised, but the witch didn`t react. Fine. Pearl had warned him that this would happen. "Pearl told me to remind you of your grandmother`s debt." Julia froze for a second. Then she whirled around, staring at him with blazing eyes. "Do you have any idea what you`re asking of me? A spell like this will have consequences." "I don`t care." Jeremy replied calmly, hoping that this debt was big. He hadn`t thought to ask Pearl about it.

Julia opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Her shoulders slumped and Jeremy knew he had won. "Alright. You`re not giving me a choice. But I will not bear the consequences. Those are yours, since you`re forcing me to do this." The young Gilbert breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, I can live with that." he agreed, ignoring her dark look.

"Where is the corpse." Jeremy swallowed hard, risking another glance at Anna, noting her worried expression. "They burned her." he whispered. Julia murmured something that sounded like a curse. "Then you`ll need a substitute." she explained, looking him straight in the eye. Jeremy didn`t flinch.

After a moments hesitation Julia said: "There`s a vampire around here. Sally. She`s a real nuisance. Kills my customers and threatens me. I can`t get rid of her." She gave Jeremy a pointed look, which he chose to ignore. "And..?" "She would be a fitting substitute. So if you somehow manage to knock her out and get her into the back room, I`ll do what you want. But don`t expect any help from me before that."

###

Jeremy nervously played with the label of his water bottle, his eyes never leaving the door. He was sitting in a secluded corner of the still empty bar. Julia had told him that Sally usually showed up shortly before the official opening time. "I don`t like this. It`s too dangerous. You should just let it go and leave." Anna whispered beside him. Her concern was obvious.

"It`s going to work out, Anna. Trust me on this." Jeremy whispered back, giving her a reassuring smile, while his hand searched for the syringe in his pocket. It was filled with vervaine and he really couldn`t tell what had possessed him to raid Alaric`s weapons before he had left Mystic Falls. Maybe living amongst vampires, werewolves and the like had made him a little paranoid. Now he was glad that he came prepared.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a young woman with blazing red hair entered the bar. Her short black dress accentuated her long legs perfectly. Without looking around she sauntered towards the dark skinned woman behind the bar. "Julia, I need a drink." Julia rolled her eyes, but handed her a glass of whiskey without comment. Jeremy stood up and slowly walked over, drawing Sally`s attention on himself.

"You`re opening earlier now, Julia?" the redhead asked with a smile that made shivers run down Jeremy`s spine. "Just a little exception." Julia replied in a bored tone. "Exception, is that so?" Sally turned her attention to Jeremy, who tried to stay calm. "Yeah, I was just passing through and I really needed something to drink." he explained, gesturing to the empty bottle he`d just put on the bar. "Oh really?" came the murmured reply. Sally`s smile got wider, her eyes raking over Jeremy hungrily. He was pretty sure the redheaded vampire was planning on having him for dinner.

Well, too bad. He had other plans. His hand closed around the syringe and he slowly pulled it out of his pocket. Sally didn`t notice. She had obviously written him off as harmless and was staring at Julia again. Without hesitation Jeremy took a step toward her and plunged the syringe into her neck. Sally gave a startled yelp, but had no chance to react. The vervaine worked quickly and she sunk to the floor, unconscious.

Julia had watched the scene unfold with a mixture of surprise and fear. Jeremy ignored her disbelieving look and bent down, to pick up the unconscious vampire. "Where do I take her?" The witch just stared at him for a second. Then she shook off her surprise and pointed to a small door. "In there." She opened the door for him and Jeremy carried Sally into the back room.

The room was small. A large wooden table occupied the centre. The walls were lined with cupboards and Jeremy decided after a quick look that he didn`t want to analyze their contend any closer. There were dozens of candles that flickered to life at a wave of Julia`s hand. Jeremy put Sally down on the table. Looking at the witch out of the corner of his eye he noticed that she had obviously expected him to react to her little display of power. He chose to ignore her. If she wanted to impress him she had to do a little more than light a few candles. He`d seen Bonnie do that often enough.

Frustrated by his lack of response she turned away and took a book off one of the shelves. Jeremy recognized it to be a grimoire. She flipped through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. Then she looked at him again. "Are you really sure that you want to do this? Once I´ve started there`s no turning back." she warned. "I`m sure." Julia sighed defeated.

"Okay. For the spell to work your girlfriend`s ghost has to be here..." "She is here. She`s standing right next to me." Jeremy interrupted her. "How do you know that?" "I can see her. I think it`s a side effect of the spell that brought me back from the dead." Jeremy replied calmly. The witch looked at him with wide eyes. He could see how she tried to process this new information. A couple of times she started to say something, but then thought better of it.

In the end she just shook her head. "Fine. She has to stand right here at the head of the table. Your place is across from her at the foot of the table. You have to concentrate only on her. If you think of something else it might not work." Jeremy nodded and he and Anna took their places. Julia gave him a questioning look, seemingly still not believing that he really wanted to go through with this. He just nodded again. He was ready.

The witch heaved another sigh and took the grimoire. She read something, before putting the book aside and starting to murmur soft words. A shiver ran down Jeremy`s spine, even though he couldn`t understand what she was saying. The room seemed to get darker, colder. The young Gilbert ignored it and continued staring at Anna, seeing the fear in her expressive eyes. He was scared as well. But it wasn`t the possible consequences this spell might have that scared him. It was the thought, that it might not work.

Julia`s voice, which had been a mere whisper, when she started chanting, was now getting louder by the minute. The walls seemed to vibrate from the power of her voice. Sally moaned softly. Out of the corner of his eye Jeremy saw smoke rising from her body, forming mysterious symbols in the air. Suddenly there was a hissing sound and the body of the redheaded vampire caught fire. Jeremy stumbled backwards, away from the blazing flames. It felt like the room was shaking. Julia`s voice sounded like thunder, reverberating through the small room. It mingled with Sally`s screams. And suddenly there was another voice screaming. Anna!

Jeremy tried to reach her, but he couldn`t move, couldn`t even speak. He was frozen on the spot, completely helpless. And then, all of a sudden, it was over. The fire went out. As did the candles. For a few dreadful seconds it was deathly silent. Jeremy`s heart was pounding, his breath coming in short puffs. Then, just as suddenly, the candles flickered back on and Jeremy was able to move again. He stared at the girl lying motionless on the table. "Anna..."

Finally she opened her eyes with a gasp. "Jeremy." she whispered in a small, frightened voice. Within seconds he was sitting at her side, reaching out to touch her. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt her warm skin under his hands. Gently he pulled her into his arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Anna pulled away from him. "Yes, I think so. But.. I feel strange. Different, somehow." she admitted softly and Jeremy felt cold fear gripping him. "Different?" he croaked.

"She didn`t come back as a vampire." Julia explained. "She`s human now." Jeremy looked at the witch in shock. He`d almost forgotten that she was still here. Then his eyes met Anna`s. "Is that... okay?" he asked cautiously, not sure how she would react to this unexpected development. But her happy smile eased his fears immediately. "More than okay. It`s great." she beamed, throwing her arms around him and pulling him down for a kiss. Jeremy drew her closer and enjoyed the feeling of having her in his arms again.

No matter what consequences this spell might have, he was glad he`d gone through with it. For this feeling he would face any consequences the witches might have in store for him.


End file.
